Conservative chinstroker Michael Barone takes to the conservative Rasmussen Reports to make his presidential prediction.

Going Out on a Limb: Romney Beats Obama, Handily

Fundamentals usually prevail in American elections. That’s bad news for Barack Obama. True, Americans want to think well of their presidents, and many think it would be bad if Americans were perceived as rejecting the first black president.

But it’s also true that most voters oppose Obama’s major policies and consider unsatisfactory the very sluggish economic recovery — Friday’s job report showed an unemployment uptick.

Also, both national and target state polls show that independents — voters who don’t identify themselves as Democrats or Republicans — break for Romney.

That might not matter if Democrats outnumbered Republicans by 39 to 32 percent, as they did in the 2008 exit poll. But just about every indicator suggests that Republicans are more enthusiastic about voting — and about their candidate — than they were in 2008, and Democrats are less so.

That makes Barone enthusiastic for Romney. After looking at the state of the swing states, here’s his bottom line:

Romney 315, Obama 223. That sounds high for Romney. But he could drop Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and still win the election.